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WORLD PREMIERE: Glows In The Dark, "Ed Bradley"

Posted by: Necci – Mar 05, 2013

Today, RVA Magazine presents the world premiere of the latest video by Glows In The Dark, a local jazz/funk group featuring members of No BS! Brass Band and Matthew E. White's Spacebomb Records house band. "Ed Bradley" is the first single from their forthcoming EP, Research And Development. This EP sees Glows In The Dark in a new mode, merging their avant-garde jazz sound with hip hop. This fusion can be observed to excellent effect on "Ed Bradley," a track that features guest vocals from rapper 20/20, aka uGeorge.

Beginning with a quickly-delivered verse overtop of an ominous-sounding opening riff, "Ed Bradley" spends the first two of its three minutes building tension with pounding drums and a throbbing bassline. After 20/20's opening verse is complete, dissonant horns, played by John Lilley and Reggie Pace, clash and battle for supremacy. The dueling horns finally achieve harmony just as the song's entire groove smooths out and heads into a muscular funk rhythm, over which 20/20 delivers a second verse before the song ends. At a mere three minutes in length, there's a surprising amount of dramatic movement occurring in this song.

The drama is mirrored in the video, which is produced by Studio In The Sun and has a clean, almost retro look. It alternates between shots of actors and random objects, all placed in front of varying solid-color backgrounds. The bright colors stand in contrast to the moods of the actors, who begin the song looking somewhat unsettled and escalate into out-and-out rage during the instrumental middle section. Their rage seems to mirror the horn-section dogfight that's occurring at this point in the music, which, according to producer Sarah Newby, was not unintentional. “We wanted to build tension with escalating performances, and by juxtaposing actors and suggestive still lifes. We thought a lot about the artifice inherent in filmmaking and explored this idea in several ways. For one, actors knew they were being filmed for a music video, but from the start they were asked to act as if they were at an audition.” Once the smoother final section arrives, though, the actors start to calm down, and by the end of the song, they're nodding along with the funky groove of the rhythm section.

"Ed Bradley" is not the only song on Research And Development that incorporates hip hop influences and collaborators; the EP also features guest vocal appearances by rappers Count Bass D, John Robinson, and Jawwaad Taylor. And in addition to the five original tracks on the EP, there are also three remixes, including one by noted local hip hop producer Just Plain Ant. Research And Development will be released a week from today, on March 12, but is currently available for pre-order on Glows In The Dark's Bandcamp page. All preorders include an immediate download of the EP's opening track, "Fluorescence," which is also currently available for streaming.